A/N: I hope you will like this chapter since there is a lot more Blaise in this one than there has been in the previous chapters. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 13: What ladies can never do
It was amazing, it really was. It took two hours out of the trunk for me to remember just what month it was and for me to lose all appetite.
So, I decided to skip lunch and I climbed up to the Astronomy tower. It was so cold already, I dully noted, and I pulled out my wand, casting a warming charm on my clothes and another to keep this charm from expiring soon.
It was another cloudy day, and I watched as small black dots moved around quickly on the ground far, far down bellow me. I wondered just how many of them would survive the war that was about to come. How many would die for being born to the wrong kind of family? How many would lose all they had?
Lunch time passed too quickly for my taste, and I sighed to myself, once more walking the steps back to the castle halls. I knew I'd be returning here soon, as soon as possible in fact for the more I approached the rest of the student body, the more annoyed I was becoming.
And so I did, coming back just as soon as my Transfiguration class was over. We were given an essay to turn in next week, but I had time, perhaps I'd even have a start on it tonight, when all other students are already gone from the common room.
I spent my night on the Astronomy tower, returning to my dormitories only after curfew was well in effect. Most of the girls were already in their beds, and I had peace as I got ready for bed. Perhaps that essay could wait more, I concluded, allowing my head to fall on the pillow gently and losing consciousness promptly.
I was climbing up the stairs of the Astronomy tower the next afternoon but I stopped in my tracks as I heard soft voices. I pulled out my wand, raising my hand and preparing a binding curse in my mind were it come to a duel.
I crept up the last few stairs, my steps making no noise that could possibly be heard over the howls of the wind, and I placed my left hand on the wood of the doors that were left just barely open, pushing lightly and hopping that they would not creak. They did not, and I stopped them as I could see two female shapes sitting on the very edge of the tower. I slipped through the small opening, my hair flying around my head as wind took hold of the blonde strands, and I made a slow step forward, narrowing my eyes at the wind that hindered my line of vision. One more step, then one more, and one more.
Just one more and I could hear their words, and as my foot made contact with the stone of the floor I lowered my wand. The wind died down at that moment, and I could make out the voices that I knew so well. And now that I could finally see, I recognised the black curls of the two girls, one smaller and one taller.
"What a lovely surprise" I spoke and they turned to me, identical smiles on their faces. "I am sorry but I was not prepared for a visit, I have nothing to offer you." I droned, taking a seat between the two girls and lowering my legs so that they dangled off the wall.
"Hello Linda" they chorused.
"We hope we aren't bothering you" spoke Daphne, giving me a small, apologetic smile.
"Nonsense" I sighed, "you are never bothering me. What is bothering me, is the plan you have come up with this time."
"Plan?" echoed Astoria, her green eyes wide, but I did not fall for her innocent look.
"Yes plan Tori, don't play dumb with me." I chided lightly, and was only met with her delighted giggles. It was a game of hers to try and fool me, and she seemed more and more delighted each time.
"You see, when it's October and Daph comes up here, it's because one of you have a problem" I spoke and Daphne smiled, nodding lightly in affirmation "if it's you, it's because you're bored and want to play. But if it's the both of you, I have a problem because you will have thought of a plan to get my mind of things and you would have thought of a way to make sure that I would not say no."
I sighed again, seeing them smiling, or beaming in Astoria's case, at me.
"So, what is it this time?" I asked, rather resigned at that point.
"Well, I was talking to Melody this morning" spoke Astoria, enjoying this more than was healthy "and she mentioned that you had no plans for the Hogsmead trip tomorrow. So, I asked Daph, and she said that she was free as well and we decided to come and ask you."
"And why should I come?" I asked, knowing that they must have thought of a good reason for me to come. A very good reason or they wouldn't have bothered coming all the way up here.
"Because it's not safe for us to walk around on our own, is it?" asked Daphne, and I sensed real worry behind the teasing tone.
"Besides," added Astoria, not really catching up to the serious tone of the words her sister had just spoken "Honeydukes has received the most delicious chocolate, and I simply must have you with me when I make my first trip to Hogsmead!"
Ah, chocolate, naturally. Astoria had quite a sweet tooth and enjoyed spending her time choosing the best sweets from the stores. She wouldn't eat them all immediately as most children, rather, she'd ration them into small portions, carefully picked out, just sweet enough to keep her from eating more, and just small enough so that she would still stay healthy and skinny.
"I suppose I have no choice " I spoke and Astoria positively glowed with happiness.
"Great, see you at dinner girls" she said, standing up, kissing her sister on the cheek and giving me once more a beaming smile before dancing down the stairs.
We were silent for a moment or two more before Daphne stood up.
"Come to lunch with me" spoke she, giving me a kind smile. "You need to eat Linda."
"I'm not hungry" I responded, although I was very hungry since I had not eaten breakfast that morning.
"Please" asked she, giving me a small smile "I promise that Blaise won't be there, he and Draco are on the other side of the castle at this time."
I sighed once more, standing up slowly.
"Alright, that does make me work up an appetite." I smiled and she beamed at me, much like her younger sister, happily turning around and making her way down the stairs.
Saturday morning found me up early, honestly wondering if I should get out of the tub. I had promised Daphne and Astoria that I would meet them, mostly because I was rarely able to refuse a request from them, and was now wallowing in self-pity.
Hogsmead would be bursting with students and the hundreds of voices would surely drive me insane. But Daphne was right, I concluded, sighing and summoning my towel to me, this was no time for them to be wondering about on their own.
Ah, the things I do for family, I thought as I wrapped the towel around myself, walking back to my bed where I had left my clothes for the day.
My dorms were very lively this morning, I dully noted as I walked in to see my roommates busily preparing for the day ahead.
Some of them looked surprised as I waved my wand, having my clothes follow me to the changing stalls, but I completely ignored them.
I decided to dress warmly for the trip for I knew how cold the wind could be. I had chosen emerald green underwear for the day, and as I slipped them on, I examined the rest of the outfit. There was a teal green wrap long sleeved shirt there, black comfortable leggings and black ankle high boots that gave me an extra couple of centimetres, Merlin knows I needed them. I would also wear a long double breasted black overcoat to counter the cold winds, and as for my jewellery, I had chosen a bracelet that matched my shirt in the shade of green and which consisted of two intertwining chains along with a single tear drop necklace that had small diamonds nested in the middle.
It was alright, I concluded upon examining my reflection in the mirror, and decided to finish with a bit of make-up. I applied some mascara to prolong my light eyelashes and a soft lip balm to protect my lips from the wind. I decide to use some eyeliner, drawing out thin lines and then concluded that this was more than enough to uphold the reputation of the Kersey house.
So there I was, descending the stairs to the common room before the sound of male voices had me stopping in my steps. I'd know that irritating, Merlin forsaken voice anywhere.
"Let's got to the Three Broomsticks first" spoke the moron "I fancy a Butterbeer."
"She's not going to be there Blaise" I heard an exasperated Malfoy reply. She? Could he have another toy? I could not believe my luck, honestly, this may have been the best news in a long, long while. "Honestly, you could have any girl in the house, what in the world do you see in her? I admit she is a beauty, but other than that she's dreadful."
Who in the name of Merlin were they talking about?
I swear, I was moments away from slapping myself. How in the world did I end up in this situation? I was merely trying to avoid the moron, but now I couldn't move without seeming to have been eavesdropping. Curses.
I was startled out of my thoughts by a thud.
I was just about to step out to see if something serious had happened, before I heard a voice that had me stopping in my tracks in surprise.
"Never" I heard a voice snarl, and it took me a moment to recognise that it was the moron speaking "talk about her in that way again, or by Merlin, I will curse you, got it Malfoy?"
"Get off me!" I heard Malfoy exclaim "alright, alright, I won't talk about her."
"Good" I heard the moron hiss, and then his regular voice was back, saying "now that that's settled, how about a butterbear on you? As a sign of apology?"
"You're completely mental" I heard Malfoy reply before they were gone.
So, I learnt three things from my little eavesdropping escapade.
First, Zabini had a new crush, thank Merlin.
Second, I affirmed that he was completely mental, even turning on his friend for some whore he had most likely just met.
And finally, I would still need to avoid him like plague for the rest of the day.
I was having fun, in all honesty, I was having the most fun that I had had since the end of the fifth year. I didn't have to worry about training when I was with Daphne and Astoria, there would be no founder lurking behind the corner to throw some sadistic exercise my way, there would be no surprise test on how to survive if faced with the Killing curse. The only thing I had to worry about was escaping that obnoxious moron Zabini, and so far we had been doing a good job.
We were just exiting the owl post office, where I had stopped by to send an owl to my grandmother, asking for her to send thirteen white roses to my parent's grave when I stopped in my tracks.
We were originally headed for Honeydukes to try a new sort of chocolate they had introduced, but when I saw a familiar pair of a dark skinned and a blonde haired boy all thoughts of laughter had been erased from my mind.
I really, really did not need to have to deal with the moron now, not now that I finally managed to have some peace, or at the very least some semblance of it.
So, I did what any smart witch would, I grabbed my two cousins, one on each side, turning them and walked away briskly in the other direction.
"What's going on Linda?" asked Astoria, giggling, "Who are we running from?"
"We're not running Astoria" I snapped, pulling harder on their hands, "Ladies do not run. We are walking away briskly in the other direction whilst doing our best not to be seen."
Daphne wasn't doing so well on the field of not being seen.
"Stop turning around Daphne!" I hissed, and turned around, feeling my blood chill in my veins as the two boys were turning, ever so slowly in our direction. My head snapped forward, praying to whatever was listening that we had not been sighted.
"On second thought Tori" I hissed, pulling desperately forward, "If you wish, we shall run now. I feel inclined to overlooking this one instance of misbehaving."
"Oh" and that was all Daphne had to say to have me stop in my tracks. Apparently, I had spent all my luck for that day.
"I do hope we're not running from Blaise and Draco" she said, laughter in her voice.
"Why?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Because they are headed this way now, and I don't think we can outrun them, were such a thing to be appropriate for ladies of our social standing." She said, barely restraining herself from giggling, something her sister had no qualms about.
I took a deep breath, straightening my coat and turned ever so slowly, to accompany my two cousins who had already done the same.
Indeed, there they were, Draco following reluctantly behind a grinning Zabini. The both of them sauntered as they walked, but somehow that walk was infinitely more irritating when done by Zabini. They had dark coats on, seemingly also deciding to hide from the cold wind that had picked up mere moments earlier.
There was no way of escaping, for I could not be seen running through Hogsmead, nor was it an option for me to run from him. I'd much rather decapitate him.
"Why Draco, can you believe our luck, we happened to stumble upon the three of the most beautiful girls in the Slytherin house." Spoke the idiot as they came to a stop in front of us. The way he had said it awoke a feeling of being followed in me, and I concluded that I would not put it past him to have actually put a tracking spell on us. Not that he would need it, for it seemed that I could not, as of last year, pass by Blaise Zabini, no matter the crowd in the room, without being noticed. He was like a bloody hunting dog.
"Hello Blaise, Draco" greeted Daphne, giving them a charming smile. She seemed to get along well with her peers, and I was slightly envious of her tolerant demeanour.
"Hello" spoke Astoria beside me, and I noticed a shy note to her words. She was still very young, but seemed to be the type to become endlessly shy in front of the person she likes, despite her playful nature.
Draco gave them a small, if not stiff smile in greeting while Zabini seemed to consider this entirely inappropriate. Apparently , the correct way of greeting your peers was to be as obnoxious and flamboyant as possible.
"Indeed hello " grinned he at us, giving us what he supposed to be a charming greeting "lovely Daphne, it is always a pleasure to see you!"
"And Astoria, you grow ever more beautiful each time we meet!" spoke he in the kind of voice that I suppose had thirteen year old girls swaying. Thankfully Tori took after me, and was not swayed at the least, merely giving him that beaming smile of hers.
"And Rosey" spoke he, followed by giggling from both of my cousins, "Your beauty simply renders me speechless."
He focused his dark brown eyes on me and I stared right back, a poisonous smile finding its path to my lips as I responded "You talk an awful lot for someone supposed to be mute."
This was followed by some more giggling and even Draco smiled a bit, but the moron did not seem offended at all. He must be a masochist.
"Ah Roseycheeks, were I to talk until the end of my days, I'd still not find words sweet enough to describe your beauty." Spoke he, once more giving me what he supposed to be a seductive smile. This was followed by some more giggling.
"Hello Draco" I said, deciding that ignoring the moron was the best option available.
He seemed to stiffen a little at my use of his first name, but he responded with another stiff smile, so I figured that I had not crossed the line.
"Hello… Rosalind" responded he, some hesitance in his words. This was not going too well, I thought, if I could not have him call me by my first name, what chance did I have in persuading him to abandon everything he believed in? As I saw it, my chances were below zero, and asking for help from Zabini seemed ever more imminent.
"Have you ever, perhaps, considered putting a leash on your friend here? He has an awful tendency to bother people half to death." I hissed, giving Zabini a death glare. Honestly, what any girl could see in him was beyond me.
"I have considered it, but he has an awful tendency to bite when someone stands in the way of something he likes." He said, and I was reminded of the scene that I had sort of witnessed that morning. Who in the world had they been talking about? Poor girl in any case. "And I rather fancy my hand, you understand."
"Naturally" I responded, nodding in understanding. "I have a rather reluctant acquaintance that has the same problem. Awful people really."
"So Roseeey" called Blaise, once again grinning at my death glare. "Where were you girls headed?"
He seemed to wish to turn the course of the conversation to himself once more and I had every intention of cursing him. Of course he would hinder any effort I made to get closer to Malfoy. If only we were not so exposed to the public eye, I would cast a hex without a second thought.
"We were just headed to the castle" spoke Daphne, giving him a charming smile and displaying the reason she was sorted into the Slytherin House, she was a natural born liar. Honestly, if I did not know that she was lying, I would have almost believed her myself despite having known her my entire life. And she had no qualms about lying either.
This was most likely her attempt of making amends for the unfortunate meeting, but perhaps those were not necessary. Perhaps there could be some good in this dreadful encounter.
"Don't be silly Daphne" I responded, smiling at her, warning her not to contradict me "we were just heading to Honeydukes, there is no reason to change our plans now."
For a moment, the tiniest second, I could see that Zabini narrowed his eyes at me, seemingly realising that I was up to something.
But his smile was up in the next second and for once he proved useful.
"Then we must accompany you Roseycheeks, there is no excuse for allowing ladies such as you three to walk about without company." Spoke he, giving me a sly smirk, as if saying that he knew that I had an endgame.
"Shut it Zabini" I spoke, taking the hands of my cousins and walking forward, confident that the pair was behind us.
For once in my life, I found myself truly grateful for the crowds of students in the small candy shop. Zabini had been stuck to my side like some blasted parasite, walking so close to Daphne that she was forced to move so close to one another that out hands were constantly bumping. It seemed that he was merely waiting for the chance to walk beside me, and therefore I clutched Daphne's hand tightly, a bit painfully as well I was sure, forcing her to walk in this uncomfortable situation. Serves her right for bringing us into this situation in the first place.
But now that there were so many students around us, it was natural for a group of our size to separate. I gladly accompanied Tori to the section with chocolates while Zabini was forced to remain with Daphne as Draco made his way to the cash register. And Daphne liked sour sweets, which were on the other side of the room, unfortunately.
My mood was slightly dampened by the small letters on the back of the chocolate. I absolutely hated walnuts, and was trying to determine whether the chocolate contained them, but to no avail. The letters were so blastedly small. It was not my custom to carry around my reading glasses, but as it seemed I would need to change my custom.
"Would you mind reading this for me Astoria?" I asked, sensing that someone was behind me. "I can't make out the letters and you know how I hate walnuts."
"It doesn't say" spoke a voice, and it took me a moment to recognise that it is the moron speaking. He leaned so close to me that I felt his breath on my cheek. My wand was out momentarily in response.
"But wait, there's a translation of the ingredients to Italian" he spoke, coming ever closer, so that his chest was almost flush against my back. I twisted my hand behind my back, pressing my wand against his chest, somewhere around his heart.
"No, there is none here" spoke he, hovering over me like a blasted bear.
"Get away from me Zabini, or by Merlin there will be a dead body here." I hissed, slightly surprised that he had no physical contact with me, despite our proximity.
"Oh, but I don't think you'll hex me" purred he and I turned around in my steps, lifting my head to see him staring down at me. I found myself grateful for those couple of inches of my heels in that moment, for I wouldn't have been as threatening if I had the height of a ten year old. "The papers would have a field day, I can see the headlines now. "The Kersey heiress runs rampant across Hogsmead"."
I narrowed my eyes at him, angry beyond words that he was right. There was no way in Merlin's most potent hex that I would allow myself that shame.
"True Zabini" I hissed, bringing my knee up sharply and kicking him in the stomach, at which his eyes glazed over with such wonderful pain "but the next time you get that close to me, I will skin you alive."
With that I waltzed away from him, smirking to myself. Let that be a lesson to him, I thought, no one got to annoy me as much as he did and stayed alive.
"Are you done?" I asked as I re-joined Daphne, Draco and Astoria who materialised beside them, her hands full of bags that undoubtedly contained every and any kind of chocolate this store could offer.
"Yes.. " spoke Daphne, her eyes focused on something behind me. "But what is wrong with Blaise?"
"Whatever do you mean?" I asked, turning around innocently, only to see him walk towards us with a pained look, his hand on his stomach. "He looks completely appropriate to me."
Said boy approached us, and Draco, who inspected his friend closely through narrowed eyes addressed him, his voice incredulous.
"Is that a…. tear in your eye Blaise?" asked he and almost gaped at his friend as he nodded in affirmation. Of course, he knew better than gaping so he merely settled on having his eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets.
"Yes" spoke he, and I noted that there was still a choking tone to his voice, good. "Rosey just proved to me that she is very agile."
I felt my palms curl into fists as my anger flared once more. That moron had an undeniable talent for making allusions. Which was slightly inconvenient since my talent for casting curses was limited by the area where this unfortunate conversation was taking place.
"Shall I demonstrate just how agile I am Zabini? Perhaps this time I should aim for that unfortunate lump you call a head?" I hissed, my hand in my pocket clenching around my wand. Oh how I wished that this were a less public place.
"Perhaps we should take a walk, to cool our heads" suggested Daphne with one more charming smile. Ever the party breaker.
So that's exactly what we did, we took our coats and bundled up, bracing ourselves for the cold wind. It turned out that the wind was not so cold when your spend your time talking amicably, and giving death glares to certain annoying idiots. It was a rather pleasant walk with us visiting the Shrieking Shack, something Astoria insisted upon firmly, saying that she had wished to visit the place from her first year. But it was tiring as well, and we decided to have a Butterbeer before we returned to the old castle.
So there we were, sitting in a rather secluded corner of the Three Broomsitcks pub, something once more insisted upon by Astoria, as this was another thing she simply had to do. This one time, the wilfulness of my young cousin was very well welcomed for it gave me an excuse to spend more time with the Malfoy heir. The more time I spent with him, the more I could understand about his affiliations, and just how far he had gone in his affiliation to the Dark Lord.
The conversation was flowing along pleasantly, but what I heard worried me greatly. It almost seemed to me that I heard Lucius talking through Draco's mouth. Very worrying indeed.
And as I saw a familiar annoying trio walking past me I decided that I would put my conclusion to a test.
"Would you look at that" I spoke, looking through the window that we were seated next to. "Who let the felines out of their cages?"
At that the rest of my company turned towards the window, observing as the trio battled the wind , headed someplace in the heart of the village.
"Oh, there's your new toy Linda" affirmed Daphne and Blaise and Draco turned to me, looks of surprise sprawled across their faces.
"You played with Granger Rosey?" asked Blaise, his tone laced with surprise.
"Oh it was nothing really," I smirked at them, knowing that my next words would do what I needed them to. "I merely offered to give her a haircut… with a knife."
Draco laughed openly at that, apparently delighted at the news.
"I wish I could have seen the look on the mudblood's face!" managed he through fits of laughter.
Daphne and Astoria stiffened at that and both gave me a worried look. Even the moron seemed to catch up quickly to the change in the atmosphere, that leaving Draco to be the last one to notice as I gently laid my bottle on the wooden table before me.
"You know, I really would have said anything if you had called her something that was based on your real knowledge of Granger. For example, if you had called her a bushy haired, buck teethed, self-righteous know it all, I would have laughed and agreed with you. But you know, there is one type of people that I dislike more than I dislike buck teethed, bushy haired, self-righteous know it alls, it's the people who don't use their own head." I said, taking out may wand at what Draco visibly tensed and Blaise reached into his pocket as well.
"And you are that sort of a person Malfoy" I said, pressing my wand to the skin of my forearm and saying "Diffindo!"
This created a small gash on my forearm that immediately spurted a small stream of blood that followed the length of my arm and dripped slowly to the floor.
My cousins both jumped to their feet, exclaiming in unison: "Linda!".
Blaise and Draco both jumped to their feet, both as horrified as my cousins were, with Blaise exclaiming incredulously "Rose!"
I ignored them, slowly getting up and stretching my hand in front of me for Draco to see.
"What colour is my blood Malfoy?" I asked, but he seemed too surprised to talk.
"My blood Malfoy," I repeated" the blood of a pureblood witch with no muggle ancestry, what colour is it?"
"R-red." Managed he, seemingly unable to tear his eyes away from my arm.
"So it is. And so is Claudia's and Granger's. There is no mud in their blood and the next time you refer to someone as a "mudblood"" I spoke, my voice turning ice cold "I will perform the Cruciatus curse. Daphne, Astoria, we're leaving" I spoke, throwing a couple of knuts on the table to pay for our drinks and leaving without looking back.
"What was that Linda?" a worried Daphne demanded as we were once more thrown to the mercy of the cold October air.
"That was teaching Malfoy a lesson" I spoke, pulling down my coat's sleeve, paying the injury no mind for I knew that it was barely a scratch.
"But you could have seriously hurt yourself!" exclaimed she, slightly angry now, and I looked to my side to see that Astoria was observing us with her big, worried eyes.
I was just about to retort and assure her that I knew perfectly well what I was doing, before I collided with someone because of turning my head to address Daphne.
Honestly, why people could not watch where they were going was beyond me, I thought as I stepped back from someone who had very firm chest. Annoyingly so.
I looked up only to see none other than Zabini staring down at me angrily.
"Let me see your arm" he spoke, stretching out his hand in demand.
"No." I hissed, angry that he was angry, something he had no right to be. "This does not concern you!"
"Let. Me. See. Your. Hand." Spoke he again, his voice barely above a snarl, displaying that he made a tremendous effort to hold himself back.
" . No." I snarled right back, mimicking his tone of voice. "Move Zabini or by Merlin I will curse you!"
"Rose" demanded he, and I knew that he would not leave no matter what I did. So, to get him off my back, I very slowly and very reluctantly stretched out my arm.
His fingers immediately moved the fabric of my shirt and coat out of the way, smartly avoiding any unnecessary physical contact before he openly glared at my arm. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at my arm, and before I could protest, he spoke "Episkey!"
The wound slowly closed at that, disappearing completely moments later and leaving only a thin pink line.
"See Madam Pomfrey" he ordered and I snatched my arm back , hissing: "Leave me alone Zabini!" and marching in the other direction, my arm now healed.
Who in the world did he think he was? My blasted father? I should have hexed him then and there I concluded as we walked back to the castle.